East L.A. woman sentenced to 9 years in jail over immigration scam

East Los Angeles — A 64-year-old woman who ran an immigration business out of her home was sentenced to 9 years in jail for selling fake visas and passport stamps, the L.A County District Attorney announced.

Dalila Moreno was also ordered pay more than $300,000 in restitution to more than 30 victims as part of her sentence handed down on Friday.

“Moreno pleaded guilty on Aug. 16 to six counts of counterfeit seal, three counts of forgery, one count of grand theft of personal property, one count of attempted grand theft of personal property and one count of extortion, all felonies. She also admitted an allegation of taking property valued at more than $65,000 in the negotiated plea agreement.

Over several years through 2015, Moreno told her 32 victims that she worked for the government and had special government connections, then falsely promised to expedite the processing of visas, resident alien cards and citizenship petitions. She pretended to provide services by creating false visas and passport stamps for which she collected payment from the victims.”